May 11, 2014 — With oysters showing signs of revival in the Chesapeake Bay, some are trying to bring the bivalves back in the bay's second largest tributary, the Potomac River.
Just two years into their fledgling effort to restore the river's once-bountiful oyster population, however, organizers are raising alarms about a large marina proposed in Charles County near the Potomac's largest and formerly most productive oyster bar.
The 143-slip marina would provide berths for residents and guests of a 900-acre resort community planned on the waterfront here. The development is planned to include 1,500 homes and a conference hotel.
"If this gets through the Board of Public Works and they build this marina, I don't see how we can go in and spend money planting oysters," said Martin L. Gary, executive secretary of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission. "We're going to lose this bar."
The land-side development, years in the planning, already has all necessary approvals, including a "growth allocation" from Charles County that exempts it from some waterfront development restrictions generally required under Maryland's Critical Areas law. The marina also received a green light in 2008, but the recession stalled the development, and now the developer must apply for a permit renewal.
Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun